Last month’s weather was all over the map, but that was normal.
Statistics compiled by the Southeast Fire Centre in Castlegar showed temperatures were near normal, while the amount of rain was 69 per cent of normal.
“Otherwise,” wrote forecaster Ron Lakeman, “as is relatively common during May, highly variable conditions were experienced.”
Similar to April, the first four days of the month were cool and wet as a series of Pacific disturbances pushed across southern BC.
It didn’t rain for the next 15 days, as weather systems steered north of the area.
Clear skies on the early morning of the 11th allowed for a record daily low of –2.5 degrees to be set. That also tied the all-time coldest temperature for the month.
Unseasonably warm temperatures followed for the next five days. The highest mark of 30.7 set a record high for May 14.
When the rain finally returned, Lakeman says, “it was plentiful.”
A large Pacific frontal system produced 22.7 millimeters between the evening of the 20th and morning of the 23rd.